The role of Optimisation in 5G networks

4G and LTE are designed to improve capacity, user data-rates, spectrum usage and latency. However, 5G represents more than just an evolution of mobile broadband.

It will be a key enabler of the future digital world and the next generation of ubiquitous, ultra-high speed broadband infrastructure that will support the transformation of processes across all economic sectors. 5G will also represent a step change in the ability to meet the growing scale and complexity of consumer market demands.

While 5G is still in its evolutionary stage, its development will clearly be influenced by a need to support three specific use-cases. The Extreme Mobile Broadband (EMB) , Massive Machine Type -Communication (mMTC) and Ultra-Reliable Machine-Type Communication (uMTC).

Bringing these to life will require adaptation on both the radio and network side. For example, services may be centralised and in some cases distributed. This will depend both on the service function itself (some service functions will be naturally centralised or distributed) and, from a use-case point of view, access to technology and the type of performance required.

The optimisation and acceleration of transport protocols will become even more important for networks requiring low latency and the capability to hit high performance in a short amount of time. In this case, it is recommended to have a TCP optimisation function capability running in different points of the network and, in particular, as close as possible to the end-user in terms of RTT/Latency. This will enable faster reactions in the case of changes of network conditions, as well as service/applications requests.